TEACHER CODE SWITCHING IN AN ESL CLASSROOM

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(1)al. ay. a. TEACHER CODE SWITCHING IN AN ESL CLASSROOM. ve r. si. ty. of. M. ESWARY A/P JAYAPALAN. U. ni. FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA KUALA LUMPUR. 2019.

(2) ay. a. TEACHER CODE SWITCHING IN AN ESL CLASSROOM. of. M. al. ESWARY A/P JAYAPALAN. U. ni. ve r. si. ty. DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE. FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA KUALA LUMPUR 2019.

(3) UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA ORIGINAL LITERARY WORK DECLARATION Name of Candidate: Eswary A/P Jayapalan Registration/Matric No: TGB 130004 Name of Degree: Master of English as a Second Language Title of Project Paper/Research Report/Dissertation/Thesis (“this Work”): Teacher Code Switching in an ESL Classroom. ay. a. Field of Study: Linguistics and Sociolinguistics I do solemnly and sincerely declare that:. ni. ve r. si. ty. of. M. al. (1) I am the sole author/writer of this Work; (2) This Work is original; (3) Any use of any work in which copyright exists was done by way of fair dealing and for permitted purposes and any excerpt or extract from, or reference to or reproduction of any copyright work has been disclosed expressly and sufficiently and the title of the Work and its authorship have been acknowledged in this Work; (4) I do not have any actual knowledge nor do I ought reasonably to know that the making of this work constitutes an infringement of any copyright work; (5) I hereby assign all and every rights in the copyright to this Work to the University of Malaya (“UM”), who henceforth shall be owner of the copyright in this Work and that any reproduction or use in any form or by any means whatsoever is prohibited without the written consent of UM having been first had and obtained; (6) I am fully aware that if in the course of making this Work I have infringed any copyright whether intentionally or otherwise, I may be subject to legal action or any other action as may be determined by UM. Date:. U. Candidate’s Signature. Subscribed and solemnly declared before, Witness’s Signature. Date:. Name: Designation: Supervisor. ii.

(4) TEACHER CODE SWITCHING IN AN ESL CLASSROOM ABSTRACT Code switching is a linguistic phenomenon related with bilingual and multilingual learners, which is a subject of constant discussion among linguists, educators and policy makers. Code switching by educators and learners are over and over again viewed with. a. suspicion and contempt, which can be attributed to the dominant monolingual. ay. misconception that the act of mixing language is a sign of linguistic deficit and incompetence. In the multilingual Malaysian classroom setting, language is central to the. al. construction of meaning for students from different linguistic backgrounds. Code. M. switching is a strategy which is occasionally used by teachers who share the same L1 as the learners, to deliver their instruction to ease the learning process for learners,. of. predominantly low proficiency learners. Thus this study aims to describe patterns and. ty. functions of teacher’s code-switching and students’ views towards the teacher’s code-. si. switching behavior in an ESL classroom. This study will then ask the questions, “What are the patterns of the teacher‘s code-switching in the English as a second language. ve r. classroom?”, “What are the functions of the teacher‘s code-switching in the classroom?” and “How the student view the teacher‘s code-switching behaviour in the classroom?”.. ni. The sample of this study is, one teacher and thirty students from an ESL class from an. U. institution in Kuala Lumpur. In this study the method of qualitative approach was used. The data was gathered through classroom observations (audio recordings), interview and questionnaires. The two frameworks; the Matrix Language Frame model by Scotton (1993) and the Conversational Functions by Gumperz (1982) were referred to analyze the data.. iii.

(5) TEACHER CODE SWITCHING IN AN ESL CLASSROOM. ABSTRAK Peralihan kod adalah fenomena linguistik yang berkaitan dengan pelajar bilingual dan berbilang bahasa, yang merupakan subjek perbincangan berterusan di kalangan ahli bahasa, pendidik dan pembuat dasar. Peralihan kod oleh pendidik dan pelajar sering kali. a. dilihat dengan penuh kecurigaan dan keburukan, yang boleh menyebabkan salah faham. ay. dalam monolingual yang dominan. Iaitu dengan pengunaan bahasa campuran dalam. al. pembelajaran, ia boleh menyebabkan kelemahan dan kekurangan dalam pengajaran. M. linguistik terutamanya kepada pelajar yang sederhana dalam pelajaran. Malaysia terdiri daripada pelbagai bangsa. Oleh itu kelas bahasa lazimnya terdiri daripada pelajar-pelajar. of. yang menggunakan pelbagai bahasa. Peralihan kod adalah satu strategi yang digunapakai oleh pendidik yang berkongsi Bahasa ibunda sama seperti pelajarnya, kepada pelajar yang. ty. mempunyai penguasaan Bahasa yang lemah dalam proses menyampaikan sesuatu arahan. si. kepada mereka untuk memudahkan proses pemahaman dalam pembelajaran. ve r. pembelajaran. Oleh itu, kajian ini bertujuan untuk menggambarkan corak dan fungsi peralihan kod guru di kelas ESL. Kajian ini juga bertujuan menggambarkan pandangan. ni. pelajar terhadap peralihan kod guru di dalam kelas Bahasa Inggeris. Tiga soalan. U. penyelidikan telah dibentangkan di dalam kajian ini. Ianya adalah, ‘Apakah corak peralihan kod guru di dalam kelas Bahasa Inggeris?’, ‘Apakah fungsi peralihan kod guru dalam kelas Bahasa Inggeris sebagai Bahasa kedua?’ dan ‘Apakah pandangan pelajar terhadap peralihan kod guru dalam kelas Bahasa Inggeris sebagai Bahasa kedua?’. Sampel kajian ini terdiri daripada seorang guru Bahasa Inggeris sebagai Bahasa kedua dan tiga puluh pelajar dari kelas Bahasa Inggeris dari sebuah institut di kuala Lumpur. Kajian ini telah mengunakan pendekatan kualitatif untuk mengumpulkan data. Data telah dikumpulkan melalui pemerhatian semasa pembelajaran melalui rakaman audio, iv.

(6) temuduga bersama guru dan melalui kertas soal selidik dengan pelajar. Matrix Language frame Model oleh Scotton, (1993) dan Conversational functions oleh Gumperz telah. U. ni. ve r. si. ty. of. M. al. ay. a. dirujuk untuk menganalisis data yang dikumpul.. v.

(7) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To God, thank you for your kind provision in giving me the strength to complete this research. This dissertation is a culmination of a long and often lonely journey. The time and effort poured into the research would have not resulted in success without support. For this, I would particularly like to express my deepest gratitude here to my supervisors, Madam Norafidah and Dr. Ng Lee Luan. Their enthusiasm for the research, their advice. a. and knowledgeable insight and viewpoint were highly invaluable and greatly appreciated.. ay. My sincere thanks to the Dean of the Languages and Linguistics Faculty as well as the. al. administrative staff at the faculty for their contributions of knowledge throughout my post. M. graduate studies.. My heartfelt gratitude also goes to my parents; Mr. Jayapalan Iyyadurai and Mrs.. of. Suppuletchumy Karuppannan, and my grandparents; Mr. Iyyadurai and Mrs. Letchumy,. ty. who have never failed giving me the moral support, a simple thank you will never be. si. enough.. ve r. To my bundle of joy, Nalynna and Siddarrthaa, siblings, other family members and my dearest friends whose belief in me never wavered. Finally, I wish to thank the wind. ni. beneath my wings, my husband, Mr. Vijayandaran Munusamy, without whose support,. U. love and encouragement this research would have remained just an unrealised dream.. vi.

(8) TABLE OF CONTENTS ii. Abstract. iii. Abstrak. iv. Acknowledgements. vi. Table of Contents. vii. List of Tables. x. a. Original Literary Work Declaration Form. ay. CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. al. 1.1 Introduction. M. 1.2 Background of the Study. 1.4 Research Questions 1.5 Significance of study. of. 1.3 Objective of the Study. 3 4 5 5 6. si. ty. 1.6 Organization of the Research Report. 1. ve r. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction. 7. 2.2 Code-switching in Second Language Classroom. 7. Code-switching Patterns. 8. 2.2.1.1 Intra-sentential Code-switching. 8. 2.2.1.2 Inter-sentential Code-switching. 9. 2.2.2. Matrix Language. 9. 2.2.3. Embedded Language. 10. 2.2.4. Classroom Discourse. 10. U. ni. 2.2.1. vii.

(9) 2.2.5. Theoretical Frameworks. 10. 2.2.5.1 Matrix Language Frame Model, Scotton (1993). 10. 2.2.5.2 The Conversational Functions by Gumperz (1982). 11. 2.3 Code-switching Studies on Linguistic and Sociolinguistic Perspectives. 12. 2.3.1. Linguistic Studies on Code-switching. 12. 2.3.2. Sociolinguistic Studies on Code-switching. 14 17. a. 2.4 Code-switching studies in education setting, ESL and. ay. EFL classrooms. 3.2 Research Design. 27 28 28. Background Information of the ESL Teacher. 29. 3.3.2. Background Information of the ESL Classroom. 30. 3.4 Research method. 31. 3.5 Procedures for data collection. 33. 3.6 Procedures for data analysis:. 34. U. ni. ve r. 3.3.1. si. ty. 3.3 Subject and sampling. of. 3.1 Introduction. M. CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY. 26. al. 2.5 Conclusion. 3.6.1. Data Collection of Patterns of the Teacher’s Code-switching. 34. 3.6.2. Data Collection of Functions of Teacher’s Code-switching. 34. 3.6.3. Data Collection of Students’ Perception on Teacher’s. 35. Code-switching 3.7 Analytical Model Framework:. 35. 3.7.1. Matrix Language Frame Model, Scotton (1993). 35. 3.7.2. The Conversational Functions by Gumperz (1982). 36 viii.

(10) 3.8 Ethical considerations. 36. 3.9 Scope and Limitations. 37. 3.10 Conclusion. 38. CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS 4.1 Introduction. 39. 4.2 Discussions of the finding. 39. a. 39. Code-switching at Word Level. 4.2.1.2. Code-switching at Phrase Level. 55. 4.2.1.3. Code-switching at Sentence Level. 62. al. ay. 4.2.1.1. 40. Functions of Teacher’s Code-switching. 73. 4.2.2.1. 74. M. 4.2.2. The Patterns of the Teacher’s Code-switching. Functions of the Teacher’s Code-switching Based on. of. 4.2.1. Gumperz Conversational Functions (1982). Student Perception on the Teacher’s Code-switching Behavior. 85 98. si. 4.2.3. Other Reasons for Code-switching. ty. 4.2.2.2. 4.3. ve r. in Class Conclusion. 101. ni. CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION Introduction. 104. 5.2. Summary of the Study. 104. 5.3. Research Questions. 105. 5.4. Significance and Implications. 110. 5.5. Limitations of the Study. 111. 5.6. Suggestions for Further Studies. 112. 5.7. Conclusion. 112. U. 5.1. ix.

(11) References. 114. Appendices. 119 LIST OF TABLES. Table. Page. Table 1: Patterns of the Teacher’s Code-switching in. 69. a. the ESL Classroom Discourse. ay. Table 2: The Frequency of Teacher’s Code-switching Based on. al. Intra-sentential Code-switching. Table 3: The Frequency of Teacher’s Code-switching Based on. 70. 72. Table 4: Frequency of Occurrence of the Teacher’s Code-switching. 96. of. M. Inter-sentential Code-switching. Functions. 99. ty. Table 5: Student’s Responses on the Teacher’s Code-switching Behavior. U. ni. ve r. si. in English Classroom. x.

(12) CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION. 1.1. Introduction The phenomenon of code switching is common in a multilingual society as. Malaysia where the different communities speak more than one language to communicate. a. in their daily life. ‘Code’ is a specific dialect or language one chooses to employ on any. ay. occasion and the communication system used among two or more people, stated. al. Wardhaugh (2010). Therefore it is normal for speakers from Malaysia to code-switch according to the personal and social conditions of the communication they are involved.. M. Code-switching refer to any switch between languages in the course of a conversation,. of. whether at the level of words, sentences or blocks of speech, such as what often occurs among bilingual who speak the same languages (Bakers & Jones, 1998). Malaysia. ty. represents this practice whereby the ability of the people to speak in a variety of languages. si. is because of various races living here (Asmah, 2007). A Majority of the Malaysians. ve r. speak at least two languages and many Malaysians can speak three to four languages such as Malay, English, Chinese language and Tamil. According to Paramasivam (2010), when. ni. the different races get together in a conversation, there is tendency for them to code-. U. switch to various languages when communicating with each other for them to communicate comfortably and effectively. This phenomenon of switching from one language to another language in a discourse is linguistically identified as code-switching.. Dealwis, C. & David. M.K (2009) stated that in the Malaysian educational setting the teachers may use Malay language or other native or familiar languages like Mandarin, Tamil and many more together with English to teach English language and also other subjects which is in English. Tam (1992), Ong (1990), and David, M.K. (2003) 1.

(13) discovered that it is common for teachers to employ a minimum of two languages in class to teach English. This is to ensure the students understanding of the lessons taught in class. If the teachers use only English during the lessons, some students might not be able to understand as a result of their incompetence in English language.. This code-switching practice is common particularly in the rural areas and among Malay students. This phenomenon is influenced by various factors such as students’. ay. a. family background, students’ social status, proficiency and students’ interest in the language (Dealwis & David, M.K, 2009). Due to this reasons teachers are forced to use. al. not only English, but also the students’ mother tongue, the Malay language in assisting. M. the students to learn English effectively (Cath & McLellan, 1993).. of. Based on the understanding of the issue regarding code-switching in the English. ty. language classes, many researchers are inspired to investigate the phenomenon of codeswitching in English as second language (ESL) classrooms in Malaysia. In ESL. si. classrooms in Malaysia, code switching is being used by the students or the teachers. ve r. during classroom discourse. Even though it is not preferred by some teachers, one must have minimum understanding of the functions or roles of the code-switching in ESL. ni. classroom and also students’ views on code-switching in ESL classrooms. This. U. understanding will afford language teachers with keen awareness on the application of code-switching in classroom teaching. Certainly this will lead to a better classroom discourse by either reducing the use of code-switching or increasing the employment of code switching practice in English language teaching. Thus, the present study will add more to the knowledge of code-switching phenomenon in the ESL classroom, particularly in Malaysian classroom setting.. 2.

(14) 1.2. Background of the Study In the Malaysian classroom setting it is common for teachers to code-switch from. English to Malay and Malay to English, English to Tamil and Tamil to English and English to Mandarin and Mandarin to English while teaching English as well as all other subjects. However the problem is, it is uncertain that the teachers are aware of how, how much and why do they really code switch during classroom discourse. Furthermore teachers may possibly not know about the students’ views towards their code-switching. ay. a. in the English language classrooms. In addition, language teachers may not aware of the pedagogical usage of code-switching in ESL classroom. Nevertheless, this research solely. al. emphasis on the phenomenon of code-switching employed by an Indian teacher who. M. teaches English to 30 Malay students. Many ESL teachers tend to use more than one language to teach English. This is because many students mostly in the rural areas or. of. students who are not from English speaking based environment are low proficient in the. ty. English language. This phenomenon is influenced by various factors such as students’ family background, students’ social status and students’ proficiency and interest in. si. English language. In the rural areas, the students’ exposure to English is limited as most. ve r. of them use the language only in English lessons (Dealwis & David, M.K, 2009). In addition, many students are not able to practice the English language outside the school. ni. as their parents prefer to speak in Malay language at home (Paramasivam, 2010).. U. Furthermore some students are not interested in the language as they do not see the importance of learning English. These students find it very difficult to understand the lesson if the teacher practices only English language in ESL classroom to teach English. In this situation teachers are forced to use the Malay language which is also a medium of communication between these students. This leads to the presence of code switching practice in the ESL classrooms where the teachers are forced to use not only English, but also the students’ mother tongue, the Malay language in assisting the students to learn 3.

(15) English language effectively. Teachers’ understanding of this phenomenon will make the teachers clearly see its strengths and weaknesses when they practice code switching in an ESL classroom in teaching the English language effectively.. 1.3. Objectives of the Study This study has three main objectives. This study aims to identify and describe the. ay. a. teacher’s patterns of code-switching. The researcher is looking at teachers codeswitching at word level, phrase level and sentence level by looking into teacher’s. al. discourse in the ESL classroom. In addition this study also aims to study the functions. M. of the teachers code-switching. Furthermore, this study tries to examine the students’ views on teacher’s code-switching in the classroom. In general purpose of this research. of. is to understand strengths and weaknesses of the phenomenon of code-switching in an. ty. ESL classroom in conducting an effective English lesson.. To identify and describe the teacher’s patterns of code switching in the ESL. ve r. . si. The main purpose of this study is to:. classroom.. To study the functions of teacher’s code switching in the ESL classroom.. . To investigate students’ views on teacher’s code switching in the ESL classroom.. U. ni. . 4.

(16) 1.4. Research Questions. There were three research questions formulated in order to meet the research objectives: . What are the teacher’s code switching patterns in the ESL classroom?. . What functions do the teacher’s code switching serve in the ESL classroom?. . How do the students view the teacher’s code switching patterns in the ESL. 1.5. ay. a. classroom?. Significance of Study. al. This study intended to learn the teacher’s patterns of the code-switching, functions. M. of the teacher’s code-switching and the students view on the teacher’s code-switching in an ESL classroom. The outcome of this study can upsurge the ESL teacher’s awareness. of. of practice of code switching in an ESL classroom during the teaching and learning. ty. process so that the teachers would be able to reconsider their code-switching approach to. si. conduct effective lessons.. ve r. This study is also significant for the reason that there are very limited studies done. to identify the patterns of teacher’s code-switching, to study the functions of the teacher’s. ni. code switching and also to investigate students’ views towards the teachers’ code-. U. switching particularly in Malaysian ESL classroom settings. Thus, the understanding and awareness of the phenomenon of code-switching by a teacher will be very useful in the improvement of the ESL teaching and learning processes in Malaysian ESL classroom settings.. 5.

(17) 1.6. Organization of the Research Report This chapter has discussed the introduction, background of the study,. objectives of the study, research questions and also significance of the study. The definition of the important terms and code-switching studies on linguistic, sociolinguistics perspective and studies on education setting will be reviewed in chapter two. In chapter three, the research methodology, theoretical framework of this study and. ay. a. the scope and limitation of the study will be discussed. Meanwhile, chapter four presents the findings and discussion. Last but not least, in chapter five the conclusion is given with. U. ni. ve r. si. ty. of. M. al. recommendations for further studies on code-switching.. 6.

(18) CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW. 2.1. Introduction This chapter discusses the definition of code-switching, theoretical framework on. pattern of teachers code-switching and functions of teachers’ code-switching. The theoretical frameworks that have been employed in analyzing the teacher’s patterns and. ay. a. functions of code-switching are Matrix Language Frame Model by Scotton (1993) and The Conversational Functions by Gumperz (1982). Scotton’s (1993) and Gumperz’s. al. (1982) frameworks have been selected for this study and will be discussed in detail. These. M. two frameworks have been applied in many of the researches in investigating the phenomenon of code-switching. Therefore, it can be assumed that the frameworks are. of. valid and reliable to be applied for the current study. This chapter gives an overview of. ty. associated studies about code-switching in the field of linguistics and sociolinguistics.. Code-switching in Second Language Classroom. si. 2.2. ve r. There were quite a few linguistic terms used all the way through the study and. below are the definitions of code-switching. Linguists proposed different explanations for. ni. code-switching as this phenomenon is studied from many perspectives such as linguistics,. U. sociolinguistic, pragmatic and psycholinguistic. From the linguistic perspective, Scotton (1993) describes code-switching as the use of two or more linguistic varieties in the same conversation. Switching may be either intra-sentential or inter-sentential and frequently but not necessarily involves stretches of more than one word. Likewise, Milroy and Muysken (1995) specified that code-switching as the alternate use of two or more languages in the same conversation. Both of these definitions exemplify that code-switching involves the use of more than one language in a discourse. 7.

(19) Furthermore, Gumperz (1982) recognises code-switching as the juxtaposition in the same speech exchange of passage of speech belonging to two unlike grammatical or sub-systems. This explanation clarified that code-switching comprises speeches that combine two languages with different grammatical structures.. Scotton (2001) identified that code-switching can also serve various social. ay. a. functions. According to her code-switching can be a tool which delivers significant social info ranging from role relationship between speakers to feelings of solidarity, intimacy. al. and others. All of the definitions above will be taken into account when discussing the. M. code-switching phenomenon throughout this study.. of. Code-switching phenomenon has been studied for years from various perspectives. ty. by different linguists, sociolinguists, psycholinguists and even anthropologists. Although their findings were differ, their research work on code-switching added to significant and. si. interesting findings. Therefore, these provoke further studies for a more comprehensive. ve r. theory of code-switching.. Code-switching Patterns. U. ni. 2.2.1. 2.2.1.1 Intra-sentential Code-switching. Intra-sentential code-switching was proposed by Scotton in her Matrix Language. Frame model (1993). This is applied to studying the linguistic patterns of code-switching. This type of switches happens at two level, they are word level and phrase level. A word is a group of letters that together make something that we can understand. ‘She is baik’ demonstrates intra-sentential code-switching, word level code-switching. The English word ‘good’ was code-switched to Malay word ‘baik’ in the English sentence. 8.

(20) Meanwhile, a phrase is a group of words that does not make a whole sentence. Intrasentential code-switching take place at this level. The sentence ‘She is pretty tetapi malas’ exemplifies code-switching at phrase level as the Malay phrase ‘tetapi malas’ which means ‘but lazy’ is used in the English sentence.. 2.2.1.2 Inter-sentential Code-switching Inter-sentential code-switching discusses the application of two languages at. ay. a. sentence level (Scotton, 1993). According to the Longman English Dictionary (2005), a sentence means a group of words that makes a statement or a question and a sentence. M. al. begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop or a question mark.. When a speaker code-switches in Malaysia, he may speak in English and then. of. reiterate the sentence which is similar in meaning or different sentences in Malay. For. ty. instance, when the speaker says, ‘You are very kind and beautiful’ and then repeat the sentence in Malay ‘Kamu sangat baik dan cantik’, the speaker code-switches from. si. English language to Malay language at sentence level. The speaker usually does this to. ve r. give importance to the meaning of the sentences so the listeners can comprehend the. U. ni. sentence better.. 2.2.2. Matrix Language. The concept of Matrix language was suggested by Scotton in her Matrix Language. Frame model (1993). According to her, matrix language plays the main role in codeswitching. In the present study, English is the Matrix language in the ESL classroom and used as medium of instruction.. 9.

(21) 2.2.3. Embedded Language. The embedded language plays lesser role in the discourse (Scotton, 1993). In this study, the Malay language is an embedded language and is inserted in the teacher’s English discourse or dominant language during the lesson. The dominant language is English and it is also known the matrix language.. 2.2.4. Classroom Discourse. ay. a. According to Rymes (2015), the term classroom discourse refers to the language that teachers and students use to communicate with each other in the classroom. Talking. al. or conversation, is the medium through which most teaching takes place, so classroom. M. discourse is the process of face-to face classroom teaching.. The term “classroom discourse,” refers to all forms of discourse that take place in. of. the classroom. It encompasses the linguistic as well as the non-linguistic elements of. ty. discourse. The former includes the language used by the teacher and the learners, as well as teacher–learner and learner–learner interactions (Tsui, 2008).. si. In this study the classroom discourse refers to the verbal interaction between the. ve r. ESL teacher and the ESL students during the lesson in the ESL classroom.. U. ni. 2.2.5 Theoretical Frameworks: 2.2.5.1 Matrix Language Frame Model, Scotton (1993). Scotton (1993) proposed numerous characteristics of code-switching in her. Matrix Language Frame model which is in general used to examine the linguistic patterns of the teacher’s code switching during English Language teaching and learning process. This model has sparked ample study in the field and proven to be efficient on the basis of substantial evidence from many different language pairs, such as English/Swahili, Shona/English, Tamil/English, and Hausa/English (Chun, 2001). Scotton’s concept is 10.

(22) precisely associated to intra-sentential and inter-sentential code-switching which is applied to study the matrix language and also embedded diversities in sentence structure. Meanwhile, she also termed the matrix language as the language that plays the major role in code-switching while the embedded language is another type that plays minor role. In this study, the English language is the matrix language and the Malay language is the embedded language. Scotton also classified code-switching into two forms namely intrasentential and inter-sentential code-switching. Intra-sentential code-switching involves. ay. a. the two languages at word and phrase level within the sentence and inter-sentential code-. al. switching refers to the use of two languages at sentence level.. M. 2.2.5.2 The Conversational Functions by Gumperz (1982) The Conversational functions of code switching by Gumperz (1982) were used as. of. a framework to study the teacher’s code switching in the ESL classroom. From the. ty. teacher’s audio recorded discourse, the researcher chose examples of code switching which are adequate to the six functions of code switching proposed by Gumperz. The six. ve r. si. conversational functions by Gumperz, (1982):. a) Quotation. U. ni. This switching is reflected in direct quotations or reported speeches. The switch is meant to preserve the authenticity of the original message and to sound more believable to the speaker.. b) Addressee specification This function helps to direct the message to numerous possible addressees. The switch enables the speaker to draw the intended listener’s attention.. 11.

(23) c) Interjections This function serves to indicate an interjection or sentence filler. Interjections are often used for better expressions, clarification or better understanding of the speech. d) Reiteration Reiteration means repeating the message in another code. This can be done either literally or in a modified form. Reiteration can serve to clarify, emphasis or. ay. a. promote better understanding of the speech. e) Message Qualification. al. This function serves to qualify a previous statement. This can be performed. M. through sentences, phrases or clauses. By switching to the other code, a speaker believes that the message is better understood.. of. f) Personalization versus Objectivization.. ty. This conversational function by Gumperz serves to indicate the differences between facts and opinion. This function also used to reflect the speaker’s. 2.3. ve r. si. personal opinion, feeling or knowledge about something.. Code-switching Studies on Linguistics and Sociolinguistics Perspectives. Linguistic Studies on Code-switching.. U. ni. 2.3.1. Linguists suggest that there must be some form of linguistic orderliness if code-. switching is meaningful and people should be able to differentiate instances of codeswitching which are structurally more acceptable. According to Dua (1985), the study of linguistic constraints in code-switching involves the syntactic characterization of codeswitched elements, their grammatically and their acceptability as the formalization of rules to account for occurrences and non-occurrences of code-switching and switched elements. Hence, in this study when analyzing the phenomenon of code-switching 12.

(24) linguistically it will look at the patterns of code-switching by defining its grammatical and syntactical features which rule it.. Chin (1993), in one of her study about code-switching, investigated spontaneous conversations of six Malay bilinguals living in and around Kuala Lumpur. She studied the incentives for code switching and compared the code-switching patterns when the Malay and English language are employed as matrix language. He concluded that ‘code-. ay. a. switching is neither casual nor whimsical and absolutely not the outcome of individual. al. unconventional behavior.. M. Scotton (1993) suggested some characteristics of code-switching in her Matrix Language Frame model which is generally applied to investigate the linguistic patterns. of. of code-switching. According to Chun (2001), the Matrix Language frame model has. ty. been applied to the majority of the research in the field and proven to be effective on the basis of substantial evidence from various different language pairs, like English and. si. Swahili, Shona and English, Tamil and English and also Hausa and English. Scotton’s. ve r. idea is precisely associated to intra-sentential and inter-sentential code-switching which is employed to examine the matrix language and embedded varieties in sentence structure.. ni. Scotton also classified code-switching into two categories. They are intra-sentential and. U. inter-sentential code-switching. Intra-sentential code-switching involves the use of two languages at word and phrase level meanwhile inter-sentential code-switching involves code-switching at sentence level. As a result, it is clearly can be seen that Scotton’s framework is reliable in conducting present study in finding the patterns of the teacher’s code-switching.. 13.

(25) Poplack (1981) suggested two constraints from her analysis of the Spanish and English code-switching data. The constraint involved the free morphemes constraints, which prohibit mixing morphologies within the confines of the word, and the equivalent constraints, which require that the surface word order of the two languages be homologous in the vicinity of the switch point following Lipski’s hypothesis (1978). The latter constraint implied that a language switch can happen only at boundaries common to both languages, and switching cannot take place among any two sentences unless they. ay. a. have similar structures. The present study’s notion is somewhat similar to the one suggested by Lipski (1978). As Malay language and English language have similar. al. structures, switches could happen at any constituents or levels as being described later in. M. the data analysis section.. Sociolinguistic Studies On Code-switching. of. 2.3.2. ty. Engku Haliza Engku Ibrahim, Mohamed Ismail Ahamad Shah & Najwa Tgk. Armia (2013) stated that code-switching has always been an intriguing phenomenon to. si. sociolinguistics. There are not many studies done in Malaysia based on linguistic. ve r. perspective in studying the phenomenon of code-switching. A majority of the researchers in Malaysia prefer to carry out research based on sociolinguistics especially the cultural. ni. aspects as they think that this field provides more significant and more realistic findings. U. compared to the studies based on linguistic perspectives. This statement is supported by Tan (1990) that beneath the random and confusing mass of language variation, there is actually some sort of patterning of language behavior which is guided along sociolinguistic rather than purely linguistic ground.. Engku Ibrahim (2013) established the view that code-switching is a part of a conversational strategy that can be used by bilingual speakers effectively to share social 14.

(26) meanings that are influenced by social variables and morph syntactic structures of one or more languages. He also showed that the teachers had a positive attitude towards codeswitching, and they actually code-switch for pedagogical purposes. Likewise in this study the researcher claims that teachers code-switch for certain purposes.. The present study analyzes the phenomenon of code-switching not only linguistically but also on the sociolinguistic perspective as this appears to be also. ay. a. significant and beneficial to the local ESL classrooms. Furthermore, sociologists believe that there are practical reasons, motivations and functions for code-switching and this. al. phenomenon is to be treated as a discourse feature which cannot be handled adequately. M. in terms of syntactic structure of sentences (Romaine, 1989).. of. Inuwa (2014), in her study about factors motivating code-switching found that. ty. code-switching is a significant phenomenon, and it is viewed as meaningful speech style employed to pull off effects and achieve communicative objectives. From the. si. sociolinguistics’ perspective, it is considered as a special feature that bilingual and. ve r. multilingual individual are gifted with. She also investigated the practice of codeswitching among Hausa bilinguals as a conversational strategy manifested effectively to. ni. express social meanings influenced generally by some social differences and syntactic. U. structures of two different languages in a particular discussion is not random phenomenon. Actually, it is somewhat an effective instrument. Similarly, in the present study, the researcher looked into the effectiveness of the teacher’s conversational functions of code-switching in attain communicative goals in ESL classroom.. Reyes (2001), in her code-switching study stated that code-switching was employed by those individuals whose language skills in both languages were balanced. 15.

(27) She also stated that this might indicate development of bilingual communicative competence in children who are still learning a second language. This finding revealed that code-switching is a vital tool in learning the second language.. Kim (2006) stated code-switching is used when a speaker wants to quote what someone has said, to specify the addressee, to qualify what has been said, or to talk about past events. The current research aimed to examine the above reason and as well as other. al. English and Malay Language in ESL classroom.. ay. a. conversational functions by Gumperz(1982) applied to teacher’s code-switching between. M. According to Siti Hamin and Nurul Nadiah (2016) in their case study of a mixed Malay Chinese family in the homebased field about purposes of code-switching found. of. that code-switching patterns occur in particular situations to perform different functions. ty. and they stated that numerous functions of code-switching such as to express emotions, to provide further elaboration, to provide clarification and to provide emphasis. The. si. Matrix Language Frame Model was used as their Framework of the study. Siti Hamin and. ve r. Nurul Nadiah (2016) study support the idea of using The Matrix language Frame Model. U. ni. as a framework is applicable in this study.. Chng-Lee (1995) in his research studied the issues which influence code-. switching among members of three different generations of a Baba Malacca family. Mainly, he look at the social functions that code-switching serves and learned that codeswitching was driven by at least eleven sociolinguistic functions such as habit, audience and the need to reiterate. Therefore, he concluded that the social functions have a strong impact on the code-switching attitude of the subjects.. 16.

(28) Code-switching in formal educational settings is treated differently from codeswitching in social context. The bilingual communities’ skill to code-switching socially is regarded as a strength for them and it is considered a valuable addition to their range of communication approaches (Macaro, 2005). Similarly, in this study the researcher tries to investigate whether the code-switching in teachers discourse is a valuable tool.. Pakir (1989) studied the Baba community in Malaysia who code-switched. ay. a. between Hokkien dialect and Malay language. She detected some evidence to support Gumperz notion listed in his Conversational Functions of code-switching. She believed. al. that code-switching practiced amongst her participants was used to ‘negotiate a collective. M. social identity of the Baba speech community’ (Parkir, 1989). Similar to Parkir’s study present study also employed Conversational Functions of Code-switching by Gumperz. ty. of. (1982) in finding out the functions of the teacher’s code-switching discourse.. 2.4. Code-switching Studies In Education Setting, ESL and EFL Classrooms. si. Language is an important part in interacting with each other as it permits the. ve r. speakers to gain knowledge, share ideas, thoughts and feelings with others. Bilingualism or fluency in two languages has become a usual phenomenon in today’s world especially. ni. in multicultural country like Malaysia. Bilingual speakers often switch from one language. U. to another to meet communication needs. This phenomenon is well-known as codeswitching. Code-switching is widely practiced in multilingual and multicultural communities like Malaysia. In an ESL classroom setting, code-switching is being used by the teachers’ or students while communicating. Even though it is not preferred by many teachers, someone must have a minimum awareness of the functions of codeswitching and its underlying reasons.. 17.

(29) Thus, this study focuses on the teacher’s code-switching in ESL classrooms in Malaysia, investigating the functions, patterns of teachers code-switching and students view on the teacher’s code-switching behavior in ESL classroom. The understanding of code-switching phenomenon by the teachers undoubtedly will lead to a better and effective language teaching through eliminating or dominating the use of code-switching in the lesson.. ay. a. Ariffin and Husin (2011) studied the attitudes of teachers and students towards the use of code switching in ESL classroom, and found that the teacher admitted that code. al. switching was unavoidable when teaching students who have limited proficient in. M. English. Less proficient students were more tolerant towards code switching as it facilitates comprehension. The more proficient students had a less favourable attitude. of. toward code switching on the grounds that more exposure to the target language will. ty. benefit them in the long run. These findings suggest that students’ language abilities influence their attitudes toward code switching as well as the teachers’ frequency of code. ve r. si. switching in the classroom.. Cath and McLellam (1993) examined the patterns of classroom interaction in. ni. Brunei’s language classroom. They have concluded that, teacher’s code-switching acts as. U. one of the strategies to ensure pupils’ understanding and to reduce miscommunication during the teaching and learning process.. Nazish Memon (2016) in her study on the functions of code-switching in ESL classrooms of Sindh University found that teachers switched code for various purposes. The functions seem to cover, pedagogical and management functions. Moreover first language seems to be the part of teachers’ teaching methodology to teach the target 18.

(30) language. These functions may directly or indirectly serve the pedagogical functions. It was also found that the teachers may use code-switching for social purpose as well. Similarly, in this study the researcher looking at the functions of the teacher’s codeswitching. According to Bashir (2015), code-switching has a variety of purposes in various forms such as content delivery, managing discipline, humour and turn the mood. When. a. the analysed discourse functions of code switched teachers’ utterances were examined, it. ay. was observed that code switching for a variety purposes in various form were used. The most outstanding result that can be drawn from the data of teachers’ use of code switching. al. is that while English is naturally applied in instances during content delivery but they had. M. a tendency to switch to their first language when they were managing the overall. of. discipline in the classroom, to make them understand, to give examples, to create humours and turn the mood of the class. This would indicate that English is the mode of instruction. ty. over half of the time during lessons teachers use English in activities, but their first. si. language is employed to help facilitate the communication. To conclude, first language. ve r. and English go side by side in ESL classrooms, both languages seem to have their own. ni. functions in the classroom.. Tang (2002) investigated the frequency of occurrence, motivations and teachers. U. and students perceptions of code-switching in the Chinese context. Tang concluded that code-switching acted as a supporting role in learning the target language. Because of this, the teachers and the students were optimistic on the employment of code-switching in the English class.. In this study the researcher looked at whether the teacher’s code-switching occur at random and meaningful. Ernie (2011) in her research stated that code switching does 19.

(31) not occur at random and is meaningful. She also mentioned that from the linguistic perspective teacher’s code switching is governed by certain rules and has patterns which involves specific categories as suggested by Scotton (1993) namely intra and inter sentential code switching.. The functions of teacher’s code switching fits the. Conversational Functions suggested by Gumperz (1982) and also six other functions identified by her through interview with the teacher. Besides, she also found that the code switching in ESL classroom is very useful and effective tool in helping the students to. ay. a. improve their English language learning. Thus, it can be assumed that the frameworks of Matrix Language Frame model by Scotton (1993) and The Conversational Functions by. al. Gumperz (1982) are valid to be utilized for the present study and code-switching can be. M. seen as a tool to conduct effective English lesson.. of. According to Cahyani (2018), the functions of teachers’ code-switching is a. ty. significant factor in attaining the teaching and learning goals in ESL classroom. In her study she indicated that the teacher’s code-switching was regularly employed to help. si. students gain understanding of unfamiliar concepts, where the focus was on the subject. ve r. matter and not the language. She stated that teacher’s code-switching is very helpful in managing students behavior and engaging in interpersonal and effective interactions with. ni. students and teacher’s code-switching functioned as a deliberate strategy for teaching in. U. these ESL classrooms, incorporating the two languages to attain better communication and engagement in learning. The above statements clarify that teacher’s code-switching is a useful and meaningful instrument in teaching English to ESL students and is definitely meaningful.. Paramasivam (2010) in his study on analyzing the patterns of code-switching among secondary school students in Malaysia took the basis of Scotton’s matrix 20.

(32) Language Framework Model (1993) in analyzing the students’ code-switching patterns. However, he described the patterns by looking at the Matrix and embedded language that the students employed as he compared the discourse of various ethnic groups. The result indicated that the multiethnic sample used Malay as their matrix language along with English. When those of same ethnic group converse, the dominant language would be their mother tongue with English and Malay as the embedding language. He also discovered the frequency of occurrence of code-switching among these secondary school. ay. a. students were high. He believed that this condition maybe closely related to the students. al. family background.. M. Code-switching is a common phenomenon in Malaysian ESL classrooms. Usually Malaysian ESL classroom comprises bilingual learners from different linguistic. of. backgrounds who can speak in more than one languages to express their personal. ty. experiences, negotiate meaning and engage in meaningful conversations with their teacher. They communicate in languages other than English. Thus, in ESL classrooms, it. si. is common to code-switch in Malay Language because it is the common language shared. ve r. by students. (Ariffin & Husin, 2011; Mohd. Saat & Othman, 2010).. ni. According to (Then & Ting, 2011), even though the use of code-switching in a. U. natural feature of bilingual speech is considered as normal language behavior in social domains, code-switching in the education domain, mainly in language classrooms has been subjected to the scrutiny of policy planners and researchers. Many researchers studying the purposes of classroom code-switching in other countries have provided proof of its pedagogical values as an effective teaching and learning strategy. But, it appears that the findings of these studies have generally been overlooked in Malaysia. This can be seen clearly in the awareness and beliefs of ELT practitioners and the lack of official 21.

(33) recognition by policy planners. This problem is described by Martin (2005) who stated that one of the causes for the lack of official recognition to support the switching might be the concern of the efficiency of a pedagogy which supports the switching between languages.. The evidence that code-switching use in second language classrooms is extensive even in circumstances where official policies are imposed to control its presence (Raschka. ay. a. & Chi-Ling, 2009). Meanwhile, Ferguson (2003) reported that there are similarities in the results of studies which examined the functions of teacher code-switching across different. al. classroom contexts. He defined three functions of teacher code-switching, code-switching. M. for curriculum access, for classroom discourse management and for interpersonal relations. This allows the social affective aspects of the language classroom Canagarajah. of. (1995). The code-switching functions proposed by Canagarajah is similar to Ferguson’s.. ty. These studies demonstrated that teacher code-switching is an effective teaching approach. It helps teachers to attain the learning objectives and at the same time offers the essential. ve r. si. language support for students.. Greggio and Gil (2007), summarized teacher code-switching functions in their. ni. study on the practice of English and Portuguese in beginner and intermediate EFL classes.. U. It was discovered that the functions of code-switching vary between classes. However, the use of code-switching to facilitate understanding of grammatical rules, structures, words and expressions was detected in both classes. Meanwhile, Liu, Ahn and Han (2004) examined the code-switching patterns of Korean high school teachers and found that code-switching is employed for various reasons. They were to provide clarifications on grammar and vocabulary, to provide contextual information and also to control student behavior in classrooms. 22.

(34) Thi Hang Nguyen (2017), in her research on EFL teacher’s code-switching in classroom instruction, found teachers practiced code-switching mostly in their English instruction, for both pedagogical and affective reasons. This researcher also stated that when code-switching is employed deliberately and selectively it can be an optimistic instrument to use in the language classroom. Even though code-switching is common among bilingual speakers, but is meaningful. Thus, the researcher is interested in code-. ay. a. switching and the functions of teacher’s code-switching which is similar to the present. al. study.. M. Tang (2002) conducted a study on the practice of code-switching in an EFL classroom. He was determined to investigate the frequency of occurrence, motivations. of. and teachers and students perceptions of code-switching in the Chinese context. The. ty. results were, code-switching was employed by the majority of English teachers in the class even though there was difference in terms of the occasions when the teacher code-. si. switched. This was maybe due to the students’ second language proficiency. In addition,. ve r. Tang concluded that code-switching acted as supporting role in learning the target language. Because of this, the teachers and the students were optimistic on the. U. ni. employment of code-switching in the English lesson.. Conversely, the practice of code-switching in classrooms is always met with. negative reactions by ELT practitioners, educational experts and policy makers, many believe that the two languages should be kept strictly separated (Cummins, 2005). Many teachers also feel that code-switching must not be employed in teacher’s discourse. Thus in this study the researcher intended to observe the functions of teachers code-switching. 23.

(35) in the ESL classroom. So that the teachers may well aware of the pedagogical usage of code-switching in ESL classrooms.. Bruden (2001), in his research on the contrasting perceptions between the teachers and the students on the employment of code-switching between Japanese and English in the English language classroom. He found that there were several situations that the students expect their teachers to use only English while teaching such as when explaining. ay. a. grammatical rules, giving instructions, explaining class rules, explaining the reasons for doing activities, checking for understanding and creating human contact (Bruden, 2003).. al. However, these expectations were different from the teachers whereby the teachers. M. believed that they should code-switch in all situations listed above in order to facilitate a better learning environment and maintain a better rapport with their students. This study. of. showed that it is significant for the teachers to understand the students perceptions and. ty. expectations in the class so that there will not be misconception and mismatch between the teachers perception and the students need which possibly will hinder the process of. ve r. si. learning the target language. This present study will look into this significance.. Another significant study on the aspects of code-switching in an ESL classroom. ni. was done by Badrul Hisham & Kamarulzaman (2009). They analyzed the students’. U. perception on the teacher’s code-switching and the impact of the switches to the students learning success. They found that students viewed code-switching as a positive tool in facilitating the learning process of the target language. They also found that, there was a significant connection between the teachers code-switching and the students learning access. Teacher’s code-switching facilitated the students to maximize their understanding of the teacher’s input hence allowing the students to complete all the tasks given in the. 24.

(36) class. Thus, this situation promised a better opportunity for the students to acquire the target language successfully.. In Thailand, only few linguists have paid interest to code-switching in the classroom or in the bilingual communities. Tayjasanant (2015) led a study on two university teachers’ code-switching, and their beliefs about code-switching. The findings revealed that the teachers produced three types of code-switching; tag-switching, intra-. ay. a. sentential, and inter-sentential switches, focusing on both pedagogical and social functions. It was found that one teacher believed that switching languages was for. al. knowledge transmission purposes, influenced by her former teacher, and while the other. M. teacher mostly used English had a strong belief in communicative language teaching.. of. Similarly, in this study the researcher looking at code-switching in the ESL classroom.. ty. Engku Haliza Engku Ibrahim, Mohamed Ismail Ahamad Shah & Najwa Tgk. Armia (2013) stated that code-switching has always been an intriguing phenomenon. In. si. their study about functions of teachers’ code-switching, they found that the alternating. ve r. use of English and Malay language by the English teachers. This study used the framework of Conversational Functions by Gumperz (1982) as the current study. Both. ni. the subjects of the study, teachers of a public university in Malaysia showed optimistic. U. attitudes towards code-switching. They considered that moderate code-switching is tolerable providing the switches do not interfere with the necessary processes of the learning itself. One of the teachers considered code-switching as a substitute method to teach low ability students. They found that there were many motives for ESL teachers to code-switch as suggested by Gumperz (1982) in his Conversational Functions.. 25.

(37) In conclusion, all the researches mentioned earlier proved that teachers employ code-switching in the language classrooms because of several intended purposes, either pedagogical or social. The studies also suggested that the teachers and students have positive opinions on the usage of code-switching in classroom settings. Thus, a better understanding of the functions and the views on code-switching could help the teachers in improving the teaching and learning strategies in acquiring the target language.. ay. a. Many studies carried out on code-switching investigating sociolinguistic and linguistics perspectives. However, there were not many studies conducted specifically on. al. teacher’s patterns and functions of code-switching in educational setting as well as. M. student’s perception on teacher code-switching. Therefore, this current study’s purpose is to provide a deeper insight into the nature of code-switching employed by the language. 2.5. Conclusion. ty. of. teachers in an ESL classroom in Malaysia.. si. This chapter presents various researches done abroad and in Malaysia which. ve r. analyse the phenomenon of code-switching based on linguistic and sociolinguistic aspects. Some researchers are more interested in analyzing this phenomenon socially. ni. rather than linguistically as they believe that code-switching phenomenon is more. U. significant when studied based on the sociolinguistic aspect. In spite of that, the present study chooses to analyse code-switching from both perspective as the researcher thinks that the findings from the study can be added to the present knowledge on this phenomenon, especially in Malaysian setting. Most importantly this study will not only examine teachers’ perspective but also students as well with regards to the importance of code-switching.. 26.

(38) CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY 3.1. Introduction This chapter explains the methodology of this study. It provides a brief. information on how the data was collected and how the data analysis is done. This chapter discusses the research design, subjects and sampling of the study, research method of the. a. study, and procedures for data collection, procedures for data analysis and scope and. ay. limitation of the study. In addition, the analytical frameworks adopted are also included. M. al. and explained in detail.. The purpose of this study is to identify and describe the teacher’s patterns of code-. of. switching in the ESL classroom, to study the functions of teacher’s code-switching in the ESL classroom and to investigate students’ views on teacher’s code-switching in the ESL. ty. classrooms. One English teacher teaching a form four class was selected as the researcher. si. intended to describe the patterns and functions of the teacher’s code-switching. Although. ve r. data was collected from only one teacher, the recorded classroom discourse were sufficient to answer the research questions. The instruments, audio recordings of the. ni. teacher’s classroom discourse, questionnaire for the students and the interview with the. U. teacher were used to gather adequate data. This classroom was deliberately chosen to control the linguistic variables as all of the 30 students were ethnically Malay and the teacher code-switched moderately compared to other English teachers based on the earlier observation by the researcher. Furthermore, this should ensure that the teacher would merely code-switch between the English and the Malay language during the English lesson.. 27.

(39) 3.2. Research Design This study is conducted using a qualitative approach due to its nature, which is to. explore the teacher’s code-switching patterns, teacher’s code-switching functions and students’ views on teacher’s code-switching. In this study the researcher looked at only one form four ESL teacher as the researcher described patterns and functions of the teacher’s code switching. The data collected from solely a single ESL teacher and the. a. audio recordings were done during the classroom discourse were adequate to answer the. ay. research questions. In addition, instrument such as audio recordings of the ESL teacher’s. be used for data collection. Subjects and Sampling. of. 3.3. M. al. classroom discourse, questionnaires for the students and interview with the teacher will. The population sample of this research is specialized towards an English teacher. ty. and a group of form four students. The selection of the teacher for this study was based. si. on several factors. This teacher was chosen because she uses only Malay and English as. ve r. a medium of instructions in the ESL classroom. Moreover, this teacher is the only person gave permission for her classroom discourse to be recorded and based on the researcher’s. ni. early observation she also code-switches moderately compared to other teachers who are code-switching frequently and the teachers who hardly do code-switching. In contrast,. U. she has taught English for 10 years. Furthermore, she is an Indian and her mother tongue is Tamil and she is proficient in English language and also Malay language. Moreover, the class chosen for the study was intermediate ESL class where the students English language level is between the basic level and advanced level.. 28.

(40) 3.3.1. Background Information of the ESL Teacher. She is a female Indian teacher aged 35 years old. She is a teacher at selected institute and has taught English for 10 years. Her mother tongue or first language is Tamil. However she is also proficient in Malay and English language. Furthermore, she is a qualified English teacher who graduated from University Industry Selangor, Malaysia. a. who has obtained a degree in TESL.. ay. She was chosen for this study because she was the only English teacher willing to participate in the study and she code-switches English to only Malay Language since all. al. her students are Malay students. Furthermore basic level class teachers admitted that,. M. most of the time they use Malay during their English lessons because the students in that. of. particular class understand the lesson well if the teacher code-switch to Malay language. Meanwhile the advance level class teachers mentioned that they hardly code-switch since. si. ty. these students understand English language well.. ve r. In addition, the researcher had done some observation in several English classes. It was evident that all English teachers in that institute code-switched in their classes to a. ni. certain degree. This particular teacher was chosen because based on the researcher’s. U. judgement, subject code-switch moderately compared to others who code-switched frequently and hardly code-switch. If the researcher had chosen a teacher who did not code-switched at all during the lesson, there would be no data to analyze and if the researcher analyzed the discourse of a teacher who code-switched too much during lesson, it would be as if she was studying the Malay language, not English language. Most importantly the teacher was given consent letter to participate in this study before the research was conducted to ensure the teacher’s participation in this study.. 29.

(41) 3.3.2. Background Information of the ESL Classroom. This chosen form four class is an intermediate level class in the institute. This assumption is made based on the students’ entrance test result of the institute. In addition, the researcher had done some observation in several English classes. It was evident that all English teachers in that institute code-switched in their classes to a certain degree based on the English proficiency level of the students. This particular class was chosen. a. because, based on the researcher’s judgement, the intermediate ESL class teacher code-. ay. switch moderately compared to basic ESL class teacher who code-switched frequently and advanced ESL class teacher who does not code-switch most of the time. Advanced. al. level ESL students can understand English well so there were hardly any code-switching. M. in the classroom discourse. Meanwhile the basic level students need more help in If the. of. understanding English language so the teacher has to code-switch frequently.. researcher had chosen a class with no code-switching at all during the lesson, there would. ty. be no data to analyze and if the researcher analyzed the basic ESL classroom discourse,. si. there would be too much of code-switching during lesson, it would be as if she was. ve r. studying the Malay language, not English language.. ni. All of the students were 16 years old and everyone is ethnically Malay. There. U. were a total 30 students in this class and all of them were chosen as sampling for this study. In addition, the researcher gave consent letter regarding this research to all of the samples parents to get their permission for them to participate in this study since the samples are below 18 years old.. 30.

(42) 3.4. Research Method The researcher will utilize a qualitative design where the data of the research will. be obtained through few techniques: audio taping the teacher’s classroom discourse, an interview with the teacher and questionnaires with the students. The researcher employed observation technique to collect adequate data to identify and describe the linguistic patterns of the teacher’s code-switching in the. ay. a. classroom. This techniques involved audio taping the teacher’s discourse during the teaching process. Another instrument used was an interview with the selected teacher to. al. identify the functions of teacher’s code-switching and questionnaires which were. M. circulated to the students after the classroom discourse recordings to investigate students’. of. view on the teacher’s code-switching behavior during the English lesson. The audio recording was completed during three one hour lessons. The three hour. ty. recorded teachers’ classroom discourse provided sufficient data to conduct this research.. si. Therefore, the whole recorded classroom discourse was 180 minutes. Appendix F. ve r. presents orthographic transcriptions from the recorded teachers’ classroom discourse during the English lessons. The transcribed discourse was then analysed by classifying. ni. the switches into two main categories, intra-sentential code-switching and inter-sentential code-switching as proposed by Scotton (1993). The intra-sentential code-switching was. U. further described into two levels, they are word level and phrase level. Meanwhile the intra-sentential code-switching is described into sentence level. The intra-sentential word level is broken into more specific units of word classes; noun, verb, adjective, adverb and function words. On the other hand, phrase level discussed into noun phrase, verb phrase, adjective phrase, adverbial phrase and prepositional phrase. Meanwhile, code-switching at sentence level is discussed into simple sentence, compound sentence and complex. 31.

(43) sentence. A detail analysis of the data gathered is completed by presenting the amount of occurrence of the different types of code-switching. In addition, this study uses the data collected from an interview with the teacher. This interview was carried out during the teacher’s free time after the completion of three hours classroom discourse. In the interview the teacher was asked questions regarding code-switching in the English language classroom and all the questions were based on. a. the teacher’s awareness of the phenomenon of code-switching in the ESL classroom, the. ay. amount of code-switches that the teacher used and the motives of her code-switching. al. during the English lesson. The response gathered were added to the conversational functions listed by Gumperz (1982). The functions of code-switching recognized will. of. classroom discourse gathered earlier.. M. then be supported with examples of the teacher’s code-switching from the recorded. Moreover, questionnaires were also distributed to the students upon the. ty. completion of the interview. The questionnaires were circulated to the students after the. si. completion of the classroom discourse recording. The questionnaires were adapted from. ve r. Schweers (1999), Burden (2001) and Tang (2002) studies on teachers and students perception on code-switching in the classroom. This questionnaire is attached in. ni. Appendix B. Among the questions that the researcher used in this study were, ‘I can. U. understand English better when my teacher uses Malay here and there throughout the lesson’, I can understand English faster when the teacher uses Malay in the lesson’, ‘I can improve my English when she uses Malay to teach English language’. The questionnaire contains 10 closed-ended questions following the Likert-scale value for statistical analysis reasons. The choices for answers ranged from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’. These questionnaires were used to investigate the student views towards their teacher’s behaviour of code-switching in Malay when teaching the English language.. 32.

(44) 3.5. Procedures for Data Collection The data was gathered through audio recording, interview and questionnaires. The. audio recordings were collected from the teacher’s classroom discourse in the form four class during the English lesson, the interview was led by the researcher with the English teacher and the questionnaires were given to the form four students after the three hours of classroom discourse recording.. ay. a. The tape recorder was located in front of the classroom and the researcher was able to get 180 minutes of recordings in three one hour lessons. This audio recording was. al. the main resource of the data for this study. The 180 minutes of recorded classroom. M. discourse was adequate to collect all the data required for this study. Then, the recorded discourse was transcribed using ordinary orthographic transcriptions and utilised to. of. identify and describe the patterns of the teacher’s code switching in the English lesson.. ty. Into the bargain, an interview was conducted with the teacher after the recording. si. of the classroom discourse. All of the interview questions were based on teacher’s opinion. ve r. and perception towards the practice of code-switching in classroom. The interview questions are provided in Appendix A. The teacher was given full freedom to voice out. ni. her opinion as long as it is related to the code-switching in ESL classroom.. U. Moreover, the questionnaires distributed to the students were utilized to elicit. feedback from the students regarding their views on the teacher’s code-switching behaviour during the English lesson. The questionnaire contains 10 questions about the students’ experience and opinion regarding their teacher’s behaviour of code switching in Malay in teaching English during the lesson.. 33.

(45) 3.6. Procedure for Data Analysis: 3.6.1. Data Collection of Patterns of the Teacher’s Code-switching:. The teacher’s recorded discourse was analyzed and transcribed using ordinary orthographic transcription. The transcribed discourse was then defined using a specific types of code-switching a suggested by Scotton in her Matrix Language Frame model (1993). The two categories of code-switching are intra-sentential and inter-sentential code. ay. a. switching. Intra-sentential is code switching at word level and phrase level. Meanwhile inter-sentential code switching is at sentence level. The different patterns of code-. al. switching occurred were also illustrated in this study. From this detailed investigation, it. M. can be clearly seen that the teacher used a certain type of linguistic pattern when she code-. 3.6.2. of. switched in the English class and it can be seen clearly in this study. Data Collection of Functions of Teacher’s Code-switching:. ty. This analysis is built on the notion of conversational functions proposed by. si. Gumperz (1982). These functions are the foremost frame for investigating the data.. ve r. Gumperz proposed six Conversational functions to account for the functions of codeswitching which involve quotation, addressee specification, repetitions, personalization. ni. versus objectivization, interjection and also message qualification. Based on the teacher‘s. U. audio recorded discourse, the researcher chose numerous examples of code-switching which is adequate to the six functions of code-switching as Gumperz suggested. Likewise, the interview of the teacher was analyzed to add to Gumperz functions of code-switching. These functions were also supported with examples of the ESL teacher’s code switching in the English lesson. From this in-depth analysis, the researcher made clear the functions of the teacher‘s code-switching in the ESL classroom.. 34.

(46) 3.6.3 Data Collection of Students’ Perception on Teacher’s Code-switching: The information gathered from the student’s questionnaires was analysed to investigate student perception towards the teacher’s code-switching in ESL classroom. These questionnaires were given choices of answers in Likert-scale form. There were four scales in this questionnaires from positive to negative feedbacks. These could gather the student views and opinion toward their teacher’s usage of the Malay and English language. a. in the ESL classroom. From the information collected the researcher should be able to. ay. make conclusions on the ESL student views on the teacher’s code-switching behaviour. Analytical Model framework:. Matrix Language Frame Model, Scotton (1993). ty. 3.7.1. of. 3.7. M. al. in the ESL classroom.. si. This study adopts The Matric Language Frame Model by Scotton (1993) in. ve r. identifying the structure of the code-switching. Scotton proposed numerous characteristics of code-switching in her Matrix Language Frame model which is in general used to examine the linguistic patterns of the teacher’s code switching during. ni. English Language teaching and learning process. Scotton’s concept is precisely. U. associated with intra-sentential and inter-sentential code-switching, which is applied to study the matrix language and also embedded diversities in sentence structure. Scotton also classified code-switching into two forms namely intra-sentential and inter-sentential code-switching.. 35.

(47) 3.7.2. The Conversational Functions by Gumperz (1982). The Conversational functions of code switching by Gumperz (1982) were used as a framework to study the teacher’s code switching in the ESL classroom. From the teacher’s audio recorded discourse, the researcher chose examples of code switching which are adequate to the six functions of code switching proposed by Gumperz. The six conversational functions by Gumperz, (1982) are:. ay. a. a) Quotation. al. b) Addressee specification. M. c) Interjections. ty. e) Message Qualification. of. d) Reiteration. si. f) Personalization versus Objectivization. ve r. Conversely, there were other functions too for the teacher’s to code switch. For example the teacher used code switching to elicit responses from students or to verify the. ni. students understanding and knowledge on the lesson. Hence this research comprised those. U. functions elicited from the teacher’s response during the interview. 3.8. Ethical considerations Several ethical considerations were taken into account to ensure that the study was. conducted in an appropriate manner. To comply with ethical considerations in conducting the research all participants were approached by the researcher and the research purpose and process were explained in detail to them. Meanwhile consent form to principal (Appendix D), consent form to ESL teacher (Appendix E) and students’ parents 36.